The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Wireless printers eliminate the need for printer cables and/or existing wired network connections near a desired printer location. Referring to FIG. 1, a wireless printer architecture 10 for wireless printing is shown. The architecture 10 includes a wireless subsystem 12 that communicates with an imaging subsystem 14 via an interface 16. The wireless subsystem 12 is used in addition to the imaging subsystem 14 to provide wireless communication capability. The imaging subsystem 14 may be similar to a traditional imaging circuit that is used in a printer with a wired communication connection. The interface 16 is coupled between respective input/output interfaces 18, 20 and may include a serial peripheral interface (SPI), a serial peripheral input/output (SPIO), a USB and/or other suitable interface.
The wireless subsystem 12 communicates with and is connected to a radio frequency (RF) transceiver 22 via a communication interface 24. The transceiver 22 transmits and receives RF print command and data signals via an antenna 26 from a print request device, such as a remote computer. The transceiver 22 includes a receiver 27 and a transmitter 28. During receiver operation, an input of a low noise amplifier (LNA) 29 receives signals from the antenna 26, amplifies the signals and outputs them to the receiver 27. During transmitter operation, an output of the transmitter 28 is received by a power amplifier (PA) 30, which outputs amplified signals to the antenna 26. While not shown, the transceiver 22 may also include a frequency synthesizer, a phase locked loop (PLL), and/or a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO).
The wireless subsystem 12 includes a baseband circuit 32 that may be arranged on a first printed circuit board (PCB) 34. The baseband circuit 32 includes baseband hardware 36 and a wireless microprocessor (μP) 38. The baseband circuit 32 communicates with a random access memory (RAM) 40 and a read only memory (ROM) 42. The ROM 42 stores baseband and other wireless interface software 44 that is used in processing received baseband signals.
The imaging subsystem 14 includes an imaging circuit 50 that is arranged on a second PCB 52. The imaging circuit 50 includes imaging hardware 54, an imaging microprocessor 56, a RAM 58 and a ROM 60. The imaging circuit 50 communicates with one or more input/output (I/O) interfaces 62. The ROM 60 stores imaging software 61 that is used to generate print ready output signals. The I/O interfaces 62 may include a network connection 64, a USB connection 66, as shown, or other network and peripheral connections. The imaging circuit 50 is connected to a print mechanism 70, which includes electrical and mechanical elements of a printer that implement a physical print process. Printing output of the print mechanism is based on the print ready output signals. Widespread use of printers with wireless communication capability has not occurred at least partially due to the cost associated therewith.